Are vegetables finally moving to the center of the plate?

Nick Balla at Bar Tartine is one of the chef's making vegetables the star of the menu. The San Francisco Chronicle.

A few months ago, I did a Google Hangout with chefs Nancy Oakes, Gary Danko and Mourad Lahlou. One thing that Oakes, who has owned Boulevard for 19 years, told me was particularly interesting. She said that for the first time she really thinks that diners are accepting the advice that meat should move away from the center of the plate. It’s something we’ve been paying lip service to for years, but she feels for the first time it’s really happening.

Oakes has always been one of the best chefs with vegetables, going back to her previous restaurant, L’Avenue. At Boulevard, the dishes that surround the protein have always been the most exciting part of the plate. For example to accompany a pork chop she will offer rice grits with country ham, sauteed Swiss chard, green tomato jam and pan-seared okra with “Picka Pepper” vinegar.

“The meat is just the little black dress. It’s all the accessories that have always fascinated me,” she said in a subsequent phone conversation. Yet she admitted she’s subtly changed her thinking too: “I’ve still seen it as an accessory, but now I’m saying let’s just concentrate on the vegetable.”

She noted that Nick Balla at Bar Tartineis doing a good job of this. If you look on the menu you’ll see smoked potatoes with mayonnaise ($9) and curried Brussels sprouts ($9) in the appetizer section.

Turnips take center stage at Mill Valley Beerworks. The Chronicle

I’ve found vegetables are coming to the forefront at more restaurants. I’m not talking about greater vegetarian options — we could always use more of those — but the fact that vegetables are being treated like stars. The proof of that is at several restaurants I’ve been to in the last couple of months that wouldn’t stereotypically highlight vegetables: Mill Valley Beerworks and Lincoln Park Wine Bar in San Anselmo. Both are restaurants that you would think would gravitate toward things like charcuterie, cheese and the like. Yet it’s the vegetables that create excitement.

When I reviewed Mill Valley Beerworksseveral weeks ago, I noted that 10 of the 13 small plates on David Wilcox’s menu were vegetable-based, featuring such things as roasted turnips with chimichurri ($8), and turnip tops and Romano beans with poached egg and roasted tomato sauce ($9).

At Lincoln Park Wine Bar, which I will review this weekend, the blackboard specials always include several vegetable dishes. One time it was roasted cauliflower ($8) with a creamy cheese sauce with a scattering of sweet currant-sized tomatoes; another time it was boldly seasoned mustard greens ($8) sauteed with slices of garlic.